Ratko Mladic

The international war-crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia opened a weeklong hearing Thursday designed to increase pressure for the arrest of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, for "the ultimate crime of genocide." Karadzic, who with Mladic has remained at large in Bosnia, dispatched an attorney to appear on his behalf, but the attorney resigned after a judge barred him from sitting in the courtroom. The incident eclipsed 17 new indictments handed down on Thursday by the tribunal, bringing the total issued so far to 75. The fresh charges involved nine Bosnian Croats accused of war crimes against Muslims in 1993 and 1994 in central Bosnia, and eight Bosnian Serbs accused of raping Muslim women in 1992 and 1993 in the southeastern town of Foca.

The United Nations' highest court ruled Monday that Serbia failed to prevent the massacre of Muslims during the Bosnian war but was not directly responsible for the atrocities, ending a landmark case in which an entire nation was tried for committing genocide. The decision, closely watched by countries facing allegations of war crimes, was viewed by Serbia as a vindication for its role in the 1992-95 war. The ruling angered Bosnian leaders and ended their efforts to win reparations over the killing of about 7,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

In good times and bad, Sarajevo has served as an accurate barometer of the degree of ethnic tension in the former Yugoslavia. Twelve years ago, when the Bosnian capital played host to the Winter Olympic Games, Sarajevo put on its most hospitable multiethnic face for the world. But the 1991 collapse of communist rule and the breakup of Yugoslavia into its hostile component parts permitted all the ancient racial and religious hatreds to re-emerge. Fractured Sarajevo has become the symbol of the Balkans' tragedy.

Today, Srebrenica looks eerily the same as a decade ago. Gutted buildings dominate the main road. About 6,000 Serbs live in the town and nearby villages, along with 4,000 Muslims. Members of the two groups barely speak to one another, townspeople say. Nearly 10 years after Serb troops massacred close to 7,000 Muslim prisoners around this mountain town, war crimes investigators have nearly concluded their probe into the killings, but express doubts that all major suspects will be brought to justice before a U.N. tribunal's scheduled closure in 2008.

Suppose that at the end of World War II Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Eichmann had remained in control of a large zone of Germany. They were supposed to be removed and tried for war crimes. But the United States and its allies decided to hold all-German elections while the Nazis still ruled the zone, suppressing and murdering opponents. The idea seems monstrous. But something very much like it has been embraced by the Clinton administration in Bosnia. It is pressing to go ahead with an all-Bosnia election in September even though 49 percent of the country is still ruled by the two worst mass murderers in Europe since the Nazis, the indicted Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

The United Nations' highest court ruled Monday that Serbia failed to prevent the massacre of Muslims during the Bosnian war but was not directly responsible for the atrocities, ending a landmark case in which an entire nation was tried for committing genocide. The decision, closely watched by countries facing allegations of war crimes, was viewed by Serbia as a vindication for its role in the 1992-95 war. The ruling angered Bosnian leaders and ended their efforts to win reparations over the killing of about 7,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

War crimes prosecutors are using some of NATO's most secret intelligence to build cases against Yugoslavia's top political and military leaders. But there are concerns that the alliance's diplomatic deal-making will allow Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic to escape justice. While leaders in the United States, Russia and other countries are feverishly working on a diplomatic plan to end the 8-week-old conflict, prosecutors with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at the Hague, Netherlands, are carefully collecting information on the roles of Milosevic and his top commanders in atrocities in Kosovo.

Today, Srebrenica looks eerily the same as a decade ago. Gutted buildings dominate the main road. About 6,000 Serbs live in the town and nearby villages, along with 4,000 Muslims. Members of the two groups barely speak to one another, townspeople say. Nearly 10 years after Serb troops massacred close to 7,000 Muslim prisoners around this mountain town, war crimes investigators have nearly concluded their probe into the killings, but express doubts that all major suspects will be brought to justice before a U.N. tribunal's scheduled closure in 2008.

Four years ago this Sunday the Croatian city of Vukovar surrendered to besieging Serbian forces. The Serbs went to a hospital filled with refugees, took away hundreds of men, killed them and buried them in a mass grave. It was the first reported atrocity of the Serbian aggression in the former Yugoslavia. In the years afterward Western governments tried to avoid confronting, head on, the fact of Serbian atrocities. In diplomacy and in the U.N. operation they essentially closed their eyes to Serbian responsibility for most of the horror taking place.

Secretary of Defense William Perry is ordinarily an unflappable man, radiating inner confidence. But the other day, while on a visit to Bosnia, he blew up at a reporter who asked him why NATO forces did not arrest Radovan Karadzic, the accused war criminal who leads the Bosnian Serbs. On that subject Perry is evidently uneasy. He knows that Karadzic and his fellow-indictee, Gen. Ratko Mladic, are making the United States and its allies look like weakling fools. He knows that the failure to bring them before the International War Crimes Tribunal threatens to turn the whole Dayton peace process into a bitter farce.

War crimes prosecutors are using some of NATO's most secret intelligence to build cases against Yugoslavia's top political and military leaders. But there are concerns that the alliance's diplomatic deal-making will allow Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic to escape justice. While leaders in the United States, Russia and other countries are feverishly working on a diplomatic plan to end the 8-week-old conflict, prosecutors with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at the Hague, Netherlands, are carefully collecting information on the roles of Milosevic and his top commanders in atrocities in Kosovo.

The international war-crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia opened a weeklong hearing Thursday designed to increase pressure for the arrest of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, for "the ultimate crime of genocide." Karadzic, who with Mladic has remained at large in Bosnia, dispatched an attorney to appear on his behalf, but the attorney resigned after a judge barred him from sitting in the courtroom. The incident eclipsed 17 new indictments handed down on Thursday by the tribunal, bringing the total issued so far to 75. The fresh charges involved nine Bosnian Croats accused of war crimes against Muslims in 1993 and 1994 in central Bosnia, and eight Bosnian Serbs accused of raping Muslim women in 1992 and 1993 in the southeastern town of Foca.

Suppose that at the end of World War II Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Eichmann had remained in control of a large zone of Germany. They were supposed to be removed and tried for war crimes. But the United States and its allies decided to hold all-German elections while the Nazis still ruled the zone, suppressing and murdering opponents. The idea seems monstrous. But something very much like it has been embraced by the Clinton administration in Bosnia. It is pressing to go ahead with an all-Bosnia election in September even though 49 percent of the country is still ruled by the two worst mass murderers in Europe since the Nazis, the indicted Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

In good times and bad, Sarajevo has served as an accurate barometer of the degree of ethnic tension in the former Yugoslavia. Twelve years ago, when the Bosnian capital played host to the Winter Olympic Games, Sarajevo put on its most hospitable multiethnic face for the world. But the 1991 collapse of communist rule and the breakup of Yugoslavia into its hostile component parts permitted all the ancient racial and religious hatreds to re-emerge. Fractured Sarajevo has become the symbol of the Balkans' tragedy.

Four years ago this Sunday the Croatian city of Vukovar surrendered to besieging Serbian forces. The Serbs went to a hospital filled with refugees, took away hundreds of men, killed them and buried them in a mass grave. It was the first reported atrocity of the Serbian aggression in the former Yugoslavia. In the years afterward Western governments tried to avoid confronting, head on, the fact of Serbian atrocities. In diplomacy and in the U.N. operation they essentially closed their eyes to Serbian responsibility for most of the horror taking place.

U.N. military officials said on Tuesday that almost two weeks of NATO bombing have failed to eliminate the Serbs' threat against Sarajevo and show little promise of quickly forcing them to lift their siege. Military observers say the limited scope of the NATO campaign goes a long way to explain why Serb military leader Ratko Mladic is defying demands to withdraw his arms from around the Bosnian capita,l. Few airstrikes have been directed against front-line units that generally keep three weeks' worth of ammunition and other supplies close by - including the artillery ringing Sarajevo.

After an embarrassing no-show at a highly publicized meeting aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier, a top Bosnian Serb general agreed to meet with a NATO commander today, alliance officials said late Monday. The absence of Bosnian Serb Maj. Gen. Zdravko Tolimir, deputy commander of the Bosnian Serb army, at a military planning session aboard the USS George Washington on Monday came a day after his attendance had been guaranteed at a peace summit in Rome. It was announced in Rome that the meeting on the Adriatic Sea would mark the formal resumption of high-level military contacts between the Bosnian Serbs and the NATO peace implementation force , known as IFOR.